Apple's mobile phone signal problem, which has been criticized by consumers, is also expected to be alleviated after Apple's self-developed chip application.
According to reports, Apple's first-generation 5G baseband chip supports both Sub-6GHz and mmWave (millimeter wave), using TSMC's 5 nm process, and the RF IC uses TSMC's 7 nm process. It is estimated that the industry will conduct field tests with major telecom operators in 2022, start mass production in 2023, and fully adopt it in iPhone 15.
Affected by this news, the topic "iPhone 15 will all be equipped with Apple's self-developed chips" rushed to the top of the hot search.
It is understood that the baseband chip is the communication module in the mobile phone, and its main function is to modulate, encode and decode the uplink and downlink wireless signals. The 5G baseband chip is the key for mobile phones to use 5G networks.
Apple won the autonomy of chips, tightened cooperation with TSMC, and accelerated the pace of chip self-production, all of which were laid out in advance for the battle for future 5G terminals and mobile phones.
Apple was once in trouble on the 5G chip. It fought a patent war with Qualcomm for three years and finally reached a six-year license agreement. Although Qualcomm's 5G baseband chip was adopted, Apple decided to develop it by itself and buy Intel's 5G baseband chip business at a huge price, so as to reduce its dependence on Qualcomm and reduce the expenditure of patent fees.
At the same time, in the face of China's huge 5G market, Apple's dominance in 5G chips will help it open up new prospects.
However, Xiang Ligang, a senior consultant for high-quality development of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, believes that "Intel has been developing chips for several years before, but it gave up because of technical failure, and the related R&D team was finally acquired by Apple. Apple's foundation in the 5G chip industry chain is still very shallow, and the current level still needs market testing. "
The control power of the chip is weak, which can be seen from the widely criticized signal problem of Apple's mobile phone.
Several generations of iPhone have the problem of poor signal, and baseband chip is the key to signal transmission. Apple didn't have autonomy in mobile phone chips before, but can its self-developed 5G chip fundamentally improve the signal problem?
The improvement of communication quality is a systematic problem, and it can't rely on a single chip. Apple's long-standing signal quality problem is more likely to be a system design problem.
However, he believes that if Apple uses its own 5G baseband chip, Qualcomm will lose Apple's orders and its performance will further decline, while Apple will improve the overall efficiency of SoC chips, thus reducing costs and increasing profit margins.
"If Apple succeeds in R&D on the 5G baseband chip, other mobile phone brand manufacturers will follow the example of R&D, thus changing the chip market structure, and enterprises related to the industrial chain will also adjust their shipping and stocking strategies." Linzhi said.
(Editor Sun Qian)